Neopan SS magenta like crazy!

MMfoto · Dec 28, 2006

I'm developing a bunch of Neopan SS I bought in Thailand. It has more magenta -anti halation- stain than I've ever seen. I'm fixing it in pretty fresh TF-4 for five minutes and it is still pretty heavy, definitly more than I get with Tri-X (the most I get with any film untill now).

This leads me to wonder why? I don't notice any residual magenta stain with Neopan 400 or 1600. I wonder why this film has a differant/heavier coating?

Anyways, has anyone else had this experience/any suggestions. I'm developing in Rodinal, BTW.

Keith Tapscott. · Dec 28, 2006

MMfoto said:
I'm developing a bunch of Neopan SS I bought in Thailand. It has more magenta -anti halation- stain than I've ever seen. I'm fixing it in pretty fresh TF-4 for five minutes and it is still pretty heavy, definitely more than I get with Tri-X (the most I get with any film until now).

This leads me to wonder why? I don't notice any residual magenta stain with Neopan 400 or 1600. I wonder why this film has a different/heavier coating?

Anyways, has anyone else had this experience/any suggestions. I'm developing in Rodinal, BTW.

I am surprised that Fuji are still making it, I would have thought by now that they would have replaced it entirely with 100 Acros.
Neopan 400 is an excellent general use film, a full two stops faster with a negligible increase in granularity over 100 SS.

Neal · Dec 28, 2006

Dear MMfoto,

A few minutes in Hypo Clearing Agent will help remove the sensitizing dye. An extra minute or two in the fixer will help as well.

Neal Wydra

Thomas Bertilsson · Dec 28, 2006

I'll second the Hypo Clearing Agent. Of course with TF-4 fixer, you probably won't normally need one.
Question: Does the purple tint affect your printing much?

- T

MMfoto · Dec 28, 2006

Keith Tapscott. said:
I am surprised that Fuji are still making it, I would have thought by now that they would have replaced it entirely with 100 Acros.
Neopan 400 is an excellent general use film, a full two stops faster with a negligible increase in granularity over 100 SS.

I think they still make it because they can sell it as a second tier film that can be sold for cheap in the third world without making a crazy grey market for their flagship Acros-plus it is ubiquitous at this point in some markets-at least to my eyes in SE Asia-and has a loyal following.

MMfoto · Dec 28, 2006

Thomas Bertilsson said:
Does the purple tint affect your printing much?

- T

I haven't printed anything yet, so it's too soon to tell. A lot of those SS negs are gutsy to begin with, so hopefull the stain doesn't affect printing.

I'll try the HCA-haven't bought that in a while!

Petzi · Dec 28, 2006

Thomas Bertilsson said:
Question: Does the purple tint affect your printing much?

Shouldn't the purple tint affect the contrast when printing on VC papers? This would be particularly nasty if the tint was uneven over the negative.

Edwardv · Dec 28, 2006

Expose the film to sunlight for 15-30 minutes or longer to remove the tint. Let me know how long it took to remove the tint.

momonga · Dec 29, 2006

I don't use Neopan SS very often but I have noticed a rather resistant magenta dye. Prolonged fixing doesn't remove it. Just something to live with.

SS is an old emulsion, so you would think if anything there would be less stain than the much more modern Neopan 400 or 1600.

BTW, SS is actually more expensive in Japan than Acros or Neopan 400. It still has many fans (not me, though) who prefer it in the same way many prefer FP4 or Plus-X to Delta or TMax films.

Mick Fagan · Dec 29, 2006

I'm not so sure about Neopan SS being more expensive than Acros or Neopan 400.

I have bought all of these films from Megaperls and Acros is more expensive than any of the others which are all the same price. At least in bulk roll format.

In fact Neopan SS 100, Neopan Presto 400 and Neopan Super Presto 1600 are all the same cheap price, in bulk rolls. Acros is about $10 more for a bulk roll.

I personally love the fine grain structure of these films as well. NP 400 also has a reasonably strong magenta coming out in the fixer, not as much as NP 100 but strong nonetheless. The 1600 version is on a thinner substrate, at least it feels that way.

Mick.

momonga · Dec 30, 2006

As to the price of Fuji B&W films, I find I'm living in the past. Acros and Presto 400 are no longer 300 yen or so, but now 400. SS has been about 400 yen for a long time. Fuji simply raised all their prices to the SS level. For the record, all 36 exposure rolls of Fuji B&W are 520 yen, except for Presto 1600 which is 530. The discount chain stores cut that to about 400 yen a roll.

Film has gotten expensive. I'm still living off my freezer inventory of APX and HP5+ (just 210 yen a roll of 120 when I bought it, now costs about 400 yen).

Anyway, never saw the point of paying 400 yen a roll for SS when FP4+ and APX100 were available for 300 or less. Or for that matter, Acros or Presto.

bluesun267 · Dec 31, 2006

I think SS is a beautiful film. A few camera shops in the LA area carry it and it is often cheap (last year I paid $1.99 36 exp roll). SS is available in Mexico City, but was more like $3.00 US there. It seems SS is actually a 200 asa film, old style emulsion, nice grain--soft/hard at the same time.
Try ASA 200 with rodinal 1:50 (don't quote me but I believe 11 min is a good starting point). Also the magenta cast is just kind of a psychological glitch really, it doesn't make the negs any more difficult to print.
Tim

momonga · Jan 1, 2007

$1.99 a roll! For that price I'd certainly use SS.

MMfoto · Jan 1, 2007

momonga said:
$1.99 a roll! For that price I'd certainly use SS.

Then how would you feel about $1.89 a roll?

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_prod.php?cat_id=&pid=849

Neopan SS magenta like crazy!

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency